The Marketeer

Men in tights? Nylons for guys? Mantyhose are trending.

First, there was Spanks for Men, then the man-kini, and now…wait for it… mantyhose?

Last month’s Fashion Week in New York directed the spotlight to a trend we’re not all sure we’ll be embracing anytime soon—mantyhose. Now, Women’s Wear Daily (WWD) does point out that nylons-on-guys is not a truly new innovation--NFL Hall of Famer Joe Namath notoriously slipped into a pair for a Hanes commercial and Burt Reynolds showed off his guylon fetish in a Cosmopolitan pictorial, but these were more of a publicity stunt.

Italian fashion designer Emilio Cavallini seems intent on making mantyhose a trend. The company’s website is offering unisex tights including white or gray side bands, skulls, stars, checks, camouflage and horizontal stripes. “When we started our online shop we noticed that a lot of tights sized medium-large were being purchased by men…so I did a search on the Internet and discovered there is a cult following for mantyhose.”

Time magazine claims that mantyhose have been popular in Europe for years, but have only recently gained traction in the U.S. And, with the help of Time, WWD, and The New York Times, perhaps the trend will stick.